Fact Check: WHO administering nOPV2 vaccine for Gaza children but not that rejected by countries like USA
Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies began a large-scale campaign of vaccination against polio in the Gaza Strip, in the hope of preventing an outbreak in the territory.
Gaza
Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies began a large-scale campaign of vaccination against polio in the Gaza Strip, in the hope of preventing an outbreak in the territory.
World Health Organization has stated that Israel had agreed to pause the fighting to facilitate the campaign. This campaign was started by the WHO as Gaza witnessed its first polio case in 25 years, a 10-month-old boy was paralyzed in one of his legs. WHO states that the presence of a paralysis case indicates that there could be hundreds of other children who have been infected but are not showing symptoms. It also stated that the interruption in the routine immunization campaigns in the Palestinian territories has contributed to its re-emergence.
Meanwhile, as the vaccination campaign was started by WHO, UNICEF, and the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Gaza, on September 1, 2024, several social media users, especially X users, are sharing a message claiming that the children of Gaza are receiving a type of polio vaccine that was rejected by the countries like the USA, because it causes severe problems including polio.
The claim says that ultimately in the future, when the vaccine will not work on these kids, the director of WHO will say that the best vaccine for these children is peace.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The children of Gaza are being provided with nOPV2 (novel oral polio vaccine type 2.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that the vaccine used in Gaza is nOPV2, a newly developed vaccine created specifically to overcome the risk of the spread of polio, as a mutation of the weakened virus used in the previous OPV.
According to the statement published on the WHO website on August 16, 2024, during each round of the campaign, the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and partners, will provide two drops of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to more than 6,40,000 children under ten years of age.
The BBC also published an article on August 30, 2024, stating that around 1.26 million doses of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) are already in Gaza with 4,00,000 additional doses set to arrive soon. The WHO is aiming to achieve 90% vaccine coverage across the strip, which is needed to stop transmission of the virus within Gaza. An agreement is in place for an additional fourth day of vaccination and a humanitarian pause if needed to achieve that level of vaccination.
The URWA also shared several pictures of the vaccination campaign which started in Nuseirat on September 1, 2024.
United Nations also shared some images of the vaccination campaign with the caption “Children in Gaza have begun receiving the life-saving polio vaccine. Teams are administering vaccines in 28 @UNRWA facilities in the middle area of Gaza. Health workers are also going tent to tent as they attempt to reach vulnerable”
Hence, the claim that the polio vaccine received by the children of Gaza during the recent vaccination campaign was rejected by countries like the USA, etc. is false. The UN and WHO are providing nOPV2 polio vaccine which is a newly developed vaccine.